The World Baseball Classic is back, and Team USA is looking to reclaim the throne, still riding high on that glorious gold medal victory of the United States Hockey Team. Of course, you always want to bring home the victory for your country, but after Team USA swept Canada in the Winter Olympics last month, Aaron Judge and the boys have a little pep in their step, a little extra wind in their sails… there’s just something about watching your fellow countrymen become American heroes that makes you go out there and do it again.
After falling short in the 2023 tournament, where Japan’s Shohei Ohtani struck out his Angels teammate, Mike Trout, to seal the championship in one of the greatest moments in international baseball history — the Americans are hungry. The kind of hungry that comes from watching someone else celebrate on your stage.
The 2026 WBC is shaping up to be the most loaded tournament yet, and Team USA’s roster has the potential to be absolutely terrifying. But potential and execution are two very different things, and this tournament has a long history of proving that the best roster on paper doesn’t always win. The Dominican Republic has a lineup that can absolutely mash, and Japan is incredibly balanced as always. Plus, when you have Shohei Ohtani (who clobbered a grand slam this morning in route to a 13-0 win over Chinese Taipei), you’re always in the game.
But for Team USA, the goal was to bond as a team and set the vibe early, and according to head coach Mark DeRosa, that meant tasking 21-year-old Red Sox star Roman Anthony with buying a big old speaker for the bus ride. Call it a rookie initiation if you will, but it was important to get the boys fired up on the way to Daikin Park in Houston, and there was only one way to do that…. Toby Keith.
According to MLB.com, DeRosa said “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” a favorite in the Team USA hockey locker room (and at after party), was the immediate go to song to get the boys fired up:
“He obviously was forced to go buy a gigantic speaker, and they had Toby Keith blasting.”
Anthony added that he wasn’t in charge of the playlist, just securing a Bluetooth speaker for the team:
“I don’t touch the music. I had the duty of getting the speaker, making sure it was there today, and then handing it over to the guys who want to play the music.”
Power hitting DH Kyle Schwarber, a known country music fan, might be the culprit, although he says that he’s not much of a singer. But despite the lack of vocal chops, the knows how important a sing-a-long can be for team bonding:
“I do not sing, but it was just more about getting the boys together. It is just something that, since I came up into the big leagues, it brings that kind of camaraderie together.”
God bless America, am I right?
Team USA kicks off tonight (March 6th) against Brazil at 8pm ET in their opening game of the World Baseball Classic. The game will be held at Daikin Park in Houston and can be watched on Fox.
Cue up the Toby Keith:
